The Invention of the Sewing MachineCooper, Grace Rogers
History
The Invention of the Sewing Machine
Cooper, Grace Rogers
Sewing machines -- History
[Illustration: Figure 87.--ATWATER SEWING MACHINE, 1858. Atwater
machines, based on the patent of B. Atwater, issued May 5, 1857, were
manufactured from 1857 to about 1860. The machine illustrated, which is
designed to be operated by a hand-turned wheel, has an upper forked dog
feed, and its horizontally supported spool is directly over the
stitching area. Like the others, it has a striated pillar and claw feet.
The manufacturer is unknown. (Smithsonian photo P63200.)]
[Illustration: Figure 88.--MONITOR SEWING MACHINE, 1860-1866. The
Monitor machines of this style were not marked by their manufacturers,
Shaw & Clark of Biddeford, Maine. Later the company was forced by the
"Combination" to pay a royalty, so it changed the style and began
marking its machines with the company name and patent dates (see fig.
119 for copy of seal). The Monitor, which employed the conventional
vertical spindle to hold the spool of thread, had a top feed in the form
of a walking presser. Its striated pillar was similar to that of the
Atwater machine, and both featured the same claw feet and urn-like top.
Unlike the Atwater, however, the Monitor had a double drive from the
hand-turned wheel, which was grooved for operation with belt and
treadle. (Smithsonian photo 33458.)]
[Illustration: Figure 89.--WILSON SEWING MACHINE, late 1860s to early
1870s. In addition to the Buckeye (see fig. 77), W. G. Wilson
manufactured several other styles of sewing machines. This one, a
combination of the varying styles of the earlier pillar machine has even
duplicated the general style of the spool holder patented by Folsom. The
pillar is not striated, but the machine does repeat the claw feet of the
Atwater and Monitor machines. Wilson machines are usually marked "Wilson
Sewing Mach. Manuf'g Co. Cleveland, Ohio, Ketchum's Patent April 28,
1863." The latter name and/or patent date are found on many of the
machines of this general construction. The patent is that issued to
Stephen C. Ketchum for his method of converting rotary motion into
reciprocal motion. (_Photo courtesy of The Henry Ford Museum and
Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan._)]
[Illustration: Figure 90.--GRANT BROTHERS SEWING MACHINE, 1867. This
machine was one of several styles that utilized Raymond's 1861 patented
chainstitch method. This machine, however, used an under feed rather
than a top feed.
Neither a name nor a date appears on the machine. In the June 25, 1907,
issue of the _Sewing Machine Times_ it was called the Common Sense
machine, but detailed research has turned up no evidence to substantiate
this name. However, a dated brochure advertising the Grant Brothers
machine and showing a model identical to that illustrated in the _Sewing
Machine Times_ has been found. The brochure states that the machine made
an elastic lockstitch; this was not a true lockstitch, however, but was
in fact a simple chainstitch.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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